I do not own Hetalia or the movie
On September 24th everything you've experienced,
everything you've known,
never happened.
Antonio wakes up to the ringing of his alarm clock, and his sleepy eyes pick the digital 7:00 blinking beside his head. He forces himself to sit up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He tries to remember why he slept late last night, and a glimpse of the old newspaper placed absurdly on his desk reminds him. He slept late because he couldn't push a memory out of his head, a memory that screamed to him and kept him wide eyed awake, and made his chest tightened and heavy.
A memory that his eldest son is dead.
The realization rushes him with waves of emotion, and Antonio finds himself having difficulty to breath.
Romano is dead.
In an airplane accident 3 months ago.
The airplane crashed to a mountain. No one survives.
He was only 10.
He fights back a sob and pushes himself to his feet. He can't let the loss and the pain it brought get him down. He still has a son, the younger twin of his dead son. He gets dressed, throwing the newspaper to his room's trash bin, and exits to the kitchen.
The kitchen is still empty, but the sounds from his son's room let him know that Feliciano has already wake up. Antonio puts bread into the toaster and grabs eggs from the refrigerator, throwing them into the frying pan.
When he's finished making breakfast and has just pour orange juice into 2 glasses, Feliciano appears on the door, smiling to him.
"Ve… Good morning, Dad!"
He beams back, finding the kid's smile hard to resist, and replies,
"Good morning, Feli! How about toasty and eggs for breakfast?"
"Ve! Yummy!" He sits down on one of the two chairs, swinging his short legs and humming a cheerful song, his curl bounces around with the movement of his head.
Antonio raises his eyebrow. He's just noticed it now. Do they only have two chairs? He thought they have three. He knows that there are only two of them now, but he never remove the third chair, because he found it difficult; so he let it be and convinced himself that they're gonna need it in case they have a guest.
"Feli, where's the other chair? Did you use it to grab something and forgot to return it again?"
Feliciano stops humming and looks up at him, tilting his head a little. His eyebrows are furrowed. He looks… confused.
"Ve… What are you talking about, Dad? We only have two chairs."
Antonio blinked. He checks the calendar. September 24th. Today's not April Fool, and Feliciano isn't a liar.
"Come on now, Feli. I'm happy that you're trying to cheer Dad, but don't make a joke like that, okay? It's not nice."
But Feliciano still looks confused.
"But we only have two chairs, Dad. I'm not joking."
Antonio sets down the breakfast plates he's holding and kneels down before the little boy, so he's facing him. He takes the boy's small hands in him and cups them gently. He says, "Feli, I know it was hard for you. It was for Dad too. It still is."
He bites his lower lip, trying to organize the words right. Feliciano just looks at him, clearly confused now.
"I know we have to let go. Dad has to let go. But, it's not nice, you know, removing his chair. It's like, we remove him from our life. Well, I know that now I'm the one who just can't let go, but…"
He's rambling, he knows that, but he can't help but feel scared when he sees his son's unchanging confused expression, only change from really confused to much more confused. He takes a deep breath.
"Romano, your brother, is dead. There's… there's nothing we can do to change that." I really can't let go, can I? Still having his chair around as if he's still here with us.
Silence follows. Antonio keeps his gaze to Feliciano's face, but the kid only looks confused, and now, scared.
"Dad, what are you talking about?"
Another silence as Antonio tries to register the words into his mind.
"I don't have a brother."
/
He knows he looks terrible. He has taken Feliciano to his elementary school, waving him goodbye, and left, still feeling the boy's worried glance over him.
Being told that your son is dead is horrible.
But being told by his twin brother that you don't have another son is much, much worse.
Maybe this is some kind of joke. Maybe Francis has brainwashed Feli or something. That must be it.
When he arrives back home, the first thing he notices is the photograph on the small buffet in the small hallway. The photograph is showing him and his twins; Romano on his back and Feliciano on his lap. He's laughing, Romano is pouting, and Feliciano is smiling widely.
The photograph used to be.
The photograph he's staring at right now shows him laughing and Feli on his lap. Only two of them.
He runs to the kids' room and slams the door open in his hurry.
Inside, there's a single kid's bed, a lone bible on the bedside table, a bunny doll (without its squirrel friend) peeking from the toys box, and a single pair of pajama put neatly on the bed.
He yanks the wardrobe open and is greeted by a single raincoat, a single child's jacket, and clothes that only belong to one kid.
And Antonio feels his blood run cold.
/
He doesn't know how but his feet has brought him to the town's cemetery. His body felt cold, a cold that's not caused by the September wind blowing harshly on his back.
He scans the gravestones with his eyes, searching. He's not sure what he wants to find, but he goes on.
He's already encircled the cemetery three times and doesn't find what he's looking for. His heart's beating fast inside his chest, but he forces himself to stay calm.
Breath in, breath out.
Maybe the old man who cleans here know something. He's known for remembering the ones buried here.
Antonio finds the old man in his small hut a bit outside the cemetery. The old man isn't so pleased about his question, but he lets him inside and tells him to sit down.
"You want to know who are buried here in the past three months you say?"
Antonio nods. "Yes, sir. I, I really need to find someone. I think he's buried here. A boy. 10 years old in age. He died in an airplane accident three months ago."
The old man frowns, seems to be thinking. "I don't think I know anyone who's died of an airplane accident being buried here."
"But here's the town's only cemetery!" Antonio pleads. "He can't be buried anywhere else!"
"I don't know who you're talking about!" The old man snaps. "Listen here, if you're very sure that kid's buried here, gimme a name. I keep a list of them."
"You do?" Antonio's eyes widen.
"If you're old and spend your days cleaning the graveyard, you'll find this more interesting to do." The man rises to his feet and goes to an old desk on the back of the room. He pulls out a notebook from the drawer. "Well? What's this kid's name?"
"Romano Vargas."
Antonio holds his breath as the old man scans through the pages. But several minutes later, the man shakes his head.
"No one goes by that name here. I've checked three times."
"But it can't be!" Antonio slumps in his seat. "Please, can you let me see it too?"
The old man raises his eyebrow in disapproval, but hands him the book. Antonio scans through the page of June until September. He scans again, and again. When he scans it again for about the fifth time, the old man yanks the book from him. "You've had enough, right? There's no one goes by that name in this cemetery!"
Antonio feels numb. So Romano's… not dead? But then, where is he? What did Feliciano mean this morning? He doesn't have a brother?
He leaves the hut without thanking the old man first, and walks out to the busy street. He doesn't even pay attention to his surrounding as he walks.
He's helping Romano with his things and backpack. They try to do it as quietly as possible so they won't wake Feliciano in the process. The poor kid caught a cold and now he has to stay in bed, while his brother and his friends get to go in a school trip.
"Alright, it's done." He smiles and pats the small backpack.
"Tch, I can do it myself. I don't need your help, you know." Romano crosses his arms on his chest and puffs out his cheeks, glaring at him.
Antonio laughs softly. "Of course you can, Romano. But we have to do this fast, so I helped. I know you're perfectly capable to do it yourself."
The kid blushes a shade of red, and he mumbles incoherently under his breath. He's so adorable like that! Antonio pulls him into a hug and laughs, earning small punches on his chest.
Feliciano shifts in his sleep, coughing softly, and both Antonio and Romano stop, put a finger on their lips and says, "sshhhhh…."
"Idiot Dad," Romano mutters, "You're the first to make the noises."
Antonio laughs quietly and ruffle Romano's hair, but then the voice of the schoolbus' horn is heard outside.
"They're here." Romano slings his backpack on his shoulder and puts on his shoes. They're on their way to exit the room when,
"You're leaving now, Brother?"
Both turn around and see Feliciano's slightly opened eyes on the bed beneath the blankets. Romano walks to him and pulls the blanket slightly higher on his chest. "Yep. Get well soon, idiot little brother, so you're gonna be fine when I return and tell you the stories."
Feliciano giggles. "I will, ve… So have fun, Brother. Tell me lots and lots of stories, okay?"
Romano nods. "I'll bring you souvenirs too. So, see you, Feliciano."
"See you, Roma."
Romano pokes his brother's cheek lightly and gives him a rough kiss on his forehead. Face blazing, he brushes past Antonio to the front door.
"Awwww, both of you are too cute, Roma! You'll give Dad diabetes!" Antonio pulls him into another tight hug and nuzzles his cheeks to the boy's.
Romano tries to break free, pushing him away with his short arms. "Lemme go, idiot Dad! I'm going to be late!"
"Awww, am I interrupting something?" Miss Bella has already on the doorway, smiling down at them.
"No, nothing, ma'am. Sorry for making you wait." Antonio laughs and releases his son, but not before giving him a kiss to both cheeks. "Have fun, Romano! But be careful, okay?"
"I'll be fine!" Romano grumbles and pulls away, walking to his teacher.
Miss Bella only laughs at the sight. "We'll be off now then, Mr. Carriedo."
"Please take care of Romano, Miss Bella."
"I will." She chuckles and takes Romano's hand, not noticing the child has blushed scarlet.
Antonio laughs and waves them goodbye as they make their way out the apartment.
He has made a mistake.
Romano is still alive.
A/N :
This fic is a cross-over with a 2004 movie titled The Forgotten.
So, the main story is the same with the movie, but I change it a little. I also change the ending a little.
I choose to keep their last name as it is although they're parent and child, because the name Feliciano or Romano Carriedo just don't seem to sound right for me.
The italic quote above is the movie's taglines.
Critics are always welcomed.
But no flame please :)
Thank you for reading :D